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Fight Back Against Auto Warranty Telemarketers

Since the end of May, four members of my family have been receiving telemarketing calls from a Nevada number, 702-520-14** They inform us that our vehicle warranty is expired, and that this is our second and final notice. I have this claim memorized because we have received dozens of second and final notices. The telemarketers call our Verizon cell phones, using up cell phone minutes or just causing us hassle to ignore their calls. Their automated messages says to press *1* to speak to a warranty specialist, and some other number (maybe 9?) to be removed from their call list.

Every member of my family who has received these calls on our private cell phones – one carried by a minor – has pressed the number to be removed, yet the calls persist: identical calls at alarming frequency. I think my average is four or five calls a week. Since the automated request didn’t work one morning (they called that very afternoon), I pressed one, spoke to a ‘warranty specialist’ named Leah, and requested that she take my number off their call list. She said she did.

The next day I received another call. My life not revolving around telemarketers, the next time I did anything more than check the caller ID was today. In the mean time, my dad discovered the number was in Nevada, and issued by the phone company, Digitcom Services, Inc. We attempted to return the calls at several of the dozens of numbers from which we received the solicitations, but only received a message saying that they are sorry if we reached their number in error; they only purchase business phone numbers; if we would like our number to be removed from their list, press 1. (Every time you press one, a message tells you your request has been successful.) Mom called Verizon to ask what she could do, and they referred her to the Federal No-Call List, which we were formerly unaware included cell phones. The list allots 30 days at least for companies to cease their sales calls to each number. Fortunately it no longer expires. A friend receiving similar calls reported her apparent success by requesting to speak with the manager and leaving a firm message – though she admitted there was dead air and no introduction to the machine, so she’s not sure if she was talking to anyone or not.

When they called this morning, I answered and spoke to Stephanie, requesting to speak to her manager about these harassing phone calls. I also received dead air, spoke all the same, and concluded that she hung up on me. So I went to work. Google is wonderful.

A lot of people have similar experiences, but most of them are relieved to escape from scam artists and phishers, something of which I was never in danger, since I never had a warranty on my car for it to expire. What I want is the calls to stop. They’re using my time and cell phone minutes, and are not benefiting in the slightest from bothering me.

The most helpful website I found was this blogger: Joe Levi He spent at least 30 minutes on the phone with them, wary enough to not feed them real information about his car and person. He informed them of some of the relevant federal laws, and asked them if they would be willing to comply. At first the girl said no, basically, so he offered her a second chance to comply. She eventually promised that he would be sent a copy of their no-call list policy as per federal law.

He received something else from:
Stacey R. Scales,

Paralegal, Dealer Services

100 Mall Parkway

Wentzville, Missouri 63385

phone: 1-800-649-1856

fax: 1-800-649-1719.

Also during my reasearch I ran across someone who mentioned this website: http://oneautowarranty.com/contact.html as a place where, as opposed to being sent information about the fine print of the policy, one could find out more details.

The addresses listed on that website match the one given above, and elaborate with phone numbers for various departments. I got ahold of Christina in Customer Service, who informed me that their system, contrary to their message, takes 30-45 days to remove a number from its call list. (There has also been speculation that my number must be removed one at a time from each number that has contacted me, and there are over a dozen.) I told her this was unacceptable, and she was unhelpful in offering any other solutions.

Curious about where this company got my cell phone number and those of my family, I went to the Verizon website, where they continue to say that they do not sell its customer’s phone numbers without their permission. Also on their website was a piece of news concerning a lawsuit against an unknown auto warranty telemarketing firm, which had illegally falsified caller ID numbers using a computer system. There have been thousands or millions of complaints.

The article did not include contact information for similar complaints, and the number from which I am being called was not included in the suit. It may be the same company modifying their technique. In some states, and possibly on a federal level, telemarketers are required to identify themselves. The fact that this automated message does not (and the people on the other end are unwilling to give a company name as well) accounts for the company in the lawsuit being unknown. Joe the blogger deserves commendation for discovering so much.

I used a random contact for Verizon to send them an account of my experience. Verizon,
I noticed on your news page that there has been a lawsuit against a telemarketing company that was harassing Verizon customers – a lawsuit prompted by thousands or millions of complaints from your customers. I have a similar problem, but am uncertain where to complain. The prefix for the number at which the autowarranty telemarketers have been calling my wireless phone is a 702-520-14**, which was not on the list of the lawsuit, though I presume it is the same company. I recognize that the lawsuit’s grounds apply only to when the company was employing randomly generated false numbers for caller ID. Is there anything immediate I can do to end these calls? Minutes cost me money. The company, which I believe is Dealer Services out of Wentzville, MO, is harassing me by calling me everyday under false pretenses, disregarding my auto and verbal requests to be removed from their call lists, and offering me a service in which I have no interest.

Where did they get my cell phone number?

Any answers you have on what I can do, or where else to complain, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

This is what I told them, among other required information (such as four representative examples of dates and times at which I received calls):

I selected the automated number to be removed from the list, and received an affirmative message.
When I received the same call for several days following, I finally tried the auto number again. Received another call that afternoon or next day, so pushed one to talk to Leah about removing my number from their list. She said she did. Received calls after that. Today 6/13 spoke to Stephanie via auto message, requested to speak to manager about harassment: she hung up the phone. Returned call to same number, received message saying they are sorry if I reached the number in error; they only purchase business numbers, if I would like my # to be removed, press 1. Pressed and received affirmative message. Called 800 number from website to speak to customer service. She quoted me 30-45 days to remove from their lists, despite info from auto system. My mom and minor brother have received the same call from same # on their wireless phones, too. We counted over a dozen # 702-520-14**

Power to the people isn’t just for politics. If you have the same problem, I recommend you take similar action. My next step is also to complain to their phone company. Dad suggested swamping their phone lines, but I suspect that would be unsuccessful and very temporary. Meanwhile I can, from the testimony of Christina and the FCC, expect these daily calls to cease in about 30 days.

122 Responses

Since posting this, I have not received any more phone calls. Something I did that day worked. However, my dad has started to receive a few calls on his cell phone. Maybe if you don’t answer at all – even pick up the phone – after a few times they’ll give up?

The quick and dirty “solution” that I found was to add the number to my contacts list. Then from the contacts list go to the contact and choose EDIT. Scroll down to RINGTONE and choose SET. Go to the end of the ringtone choices and choose NO RING.

I’ve tried several different methods to end the calls, but they keep coming. Fortunately, mine are only one or two a week. My latest tactic is to go through their entire sales spiel and end by saying I need some time to research their offer and company. I just hung up about 5 minutes ago from talking to Chris with this company. In addition to referring me to oneautowarrant.com, he told me the name of the company was National Auto Warranty Co. from St. Louis, MO. I don’t have any hopes that this will decrease the number of calls I get, but I get the perverted satisfaction that, if time is money, I’m costing them about 25 minutes!

I am a telemarketer to and they are getting on my nerves, its companys like that who give the respectibale companys a bad name.
I know the FTC laws like the back of my hand having been calling people for over 4 years. But this company calls becoume obcean, we have no bussiness relationship with them and yes it takes 30 day to have your number removed, but its supposed to be removed from ALL the companys list not per number.

Today i asked to speak to a manager and it clicked over immediatly no pause ( which is bullshit to begin with, it never takes less then 30 seconeds to get your manager to cross the room.) He hung up on me in midscentence as i was telling him my complant, which is a FTC violation as well i have filed 2 complants with about this company myself nothing seems to be getting done. sad.
sorry for any spelling errors my spellcheck is not working =D

Thank you for this very informative post. We are getting Auto Warranty calls on our Verizon cell phones as well. The number is 208-463-9543. Thanks again and I will be reporting according to your suggestions.

I’m having this problem. The rep I spoke to was very condescending. I’ve received so many of these calls and requested my number be removed several times. I filed a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General and the FCC. I advised him of this and he thought I was lying. He taunted me with “Is that supposed to scare me, because it doesn’t, plus, I know you didn’t do that.”

Hopefully the Attorney General and the FCC both investigate.

One thing: i’m NOT on the Do-Not-Call list for my state, I don’t remember ever registering, but I have asked multiple times to be removed so hopefully I have a case against them.

I want to thank you Lisa for the wonderful information and all the time you spent investigating this “warranty” harrassment of phone calls. It is only 1:30 and already we have had 4 today., two from the same number. The man who called himself Ross was very rude and hung up on me when I requested “again” to be removed. I found your information very helpful as I filed a complaint with the FCC as well as removed our number on the Nat’l DO NOT CALL list. It can take up to 31 days, but this has been going on for over a year….so I can wait 31 days. You were right also in the fact that the same company will use differant numbers. I called each one back and got the same women’s voice on a recording. So, beware of 714-607-5740, 408-587-2177, and 859-966-2504. FYI- Anyone else filing a complaint will need the numbers the calls came from., and get a name if possible. Thanks again!

Keep getting these same calls at work.. to multiple different extensions. Finally talked to someone to try to get to the bottom of the organization. Every time I asked for a name they hung up on me.

I spoke with Katy, Kirk, Larry, and finally Andrew. Andrew said he was the supervisor and gave me the number 800-649-1856 to call back on.

I decided to have some fun with them and gave them bait information and played them along for 15 minutes or so through their several departments. I finally asked Andrew for his direct line (he gave me the 800 number) and then asked for his PERSONAL cell phone so I could contact him directly. He said he didnt have a cell phone, that I should call the 800 and they will transfer directly to him. I asked for his last name and he said “I dont have a last name”.

If you have some free time and decide you want to waste THEIR time, give them some fake information and names and just play along. Try a recent model vehicle with low miles.. they are giving some “great” quotes! 🙂

i too have been getting these phone calls. three today so far, the last one just 15 minutes ago at 8:20.

the phone number of my last call was 1-240-210-7138. i have asked to be removed and, just like the person above, have been hung up on multiple times. this has been going on for MONTHS. i receive at least 5 calls a week, and in the last two weeks it’s been closer to 15 a week.

the real kicker is that I DON’T HAVE A CAR. so i’m being called to renew the warranty on the CAR I DON’T HAVE. i have explained this to about 5 people on the other end of the line, who always assure me that they’re going to remove me from their list, and then a few hours later i get another call from another number with the same recorded message.

these people need to be stopped. they’re predatory, they have no regard for the law, and everything they do traverses the line of basic human decency.

hopefully more people will see this and file complaints with the FCC like i just did so that these jerks are stopped for good.

Thanks everyone for the insight into these scam artists. it really sounds like there is not a lot to do other than not answering when thyecall. ALthough i do like the idea of stringing the caller along and wasting his time. but there is one thing to be greatful for. just think you could be working for this rinky dink company in this dead end job.

After they called my cell multiple times, I answered and waited to get a rep. The rep told me the company was OnPoint Media. The only thing I could find about them on Google was: they are a call center in San Antonio and Fort Worth

**** this info will help **** leave messages for each of those noted below, someone will call back and remove you from their internal call list **** the only way to get through to these people is to become a nusance to them **** good luck!
————————————————-

National Auto Warranty Services, Inc.
Incorporated by Darain Atkinson, Philip J. Jehle, Cory C. Atkinson, National Auto Warranty Services, Inc. is located at 100 Mall Pkwy Wentzville, MO 63385. National Auto Warranty Services, Inc. was incorporated on Wednesday, November 02, 2005 in the State of FL and is currently active. Business Filings Incorporated represents National Auto Warranty Services, Inc. as their registered agent.

Darain Atkinson
• President
• Secretary
• Director
[Lisa has been asked to remove these addresses because these people are receiving death threats, which are illegal and not what we were going for.]
Lake Saint Louis, MO [edited zip]
Saint Charles County

Cory C. Atkinson
• Vice President
• Director
[Lisa has been asked to remove these addresses because these people are receiving death threats, which are illegal and not what we were going for.]
Saint Charles, MO [edited zip]
Saint Charles County

Philip J. Jehle
• Chairman
• Vice President
[Lisa has been asked to remove these addresses because these people are receiving death threats, which are illegal and not what we were going for.]
Saint Charles, MO [edited zip]
Saint Charles County

I get these calls everyday!!!! on both my Tmobile cell phone and Att&t home phone! I just got one now from the number 987-654-3219 and earlier today 1234-567-891(weird #). Plus I don’t even have a car! Thanks for all your info. I am definitely going to call my local news station.

I have received several calls. I press #1 or #2; ask politely to be taken off the list and explaing that they are in violation of Fedral law. When they become rude and say something like “Tell me something I care about…” that is when I grab my trusty air horn…give it a blast no more phone calls for me!

Hello,
I have been back and forth on the phone with National Auto warranty since july 8th. I was on the phone with them and discussed their service and was almost bought on it and then declined before they could get my car info, but they already had my credit card info. (Stupid on my part) Well my phone cut off (It died) and they called me back to ensure that they didn’t hang up on me. I tried calling back for the rest of the week and they never NEVER once tried to get back with me. I checked online and noticed that they charged my card without my approval and without me being covered under any of their warranty policies.
I finally called extrememly early on mon the 14th of july and talked with a very helpful young woman and she spoke with her supervisor about my issue with their salesman last tues. They confirmed that they would credit my card and make sure I am not charged again. It was supposed to take effect within 72 hours…. It is now Sun the 20th and no credit has been posted to my card and they have yet to return any of my calls once again. I got online and saw that many people have problems with them calling too much and I find it luaghable that I can’t reach them when I need to.
Another funny thing about all of it is that they didn’t even have any of my info, i.e., name, phone number, address correct at all. they sure didn’t mess up my credit card number at all…. (edited – Lisa)

I have been getting these calls for about 4 to 5 weeks now. I just got on my cell phone the other day where i sucked all there information out of them. I did a little investagation and found that Godaddy.com hosts there website. (they have nothing else to do with godaddy) I just emailed godaddy’s abuse department and told them my story and linked a few of other peoples stories. I am hoping that godaddy will do the write thing and shut down there website. Also i know godaddy has there personal information (since i too own a hosting site) and have asked them to turn that information into the police. Now to wait and see if godaddy does the right thing. (which im sure they will)! Wouldnt it be great to see these people arrested on tv =)

Hi there. My name is John, and I have been doing some research about the company. The business is National Auto Warranty Services out of Missouri. They are currently being sued by the Attorney General of Missouri. The attorney general wishes that everyone having similar issues with National Auto Warranty Services please file a complaint with the state to help thier lawsuit against the company.

The phone number to file a complaint is 573-751-3321

Ask for the consumer protection division. Good luck!

P.S. I left a message on the company’s general manager’s voicemail threatening suit if I was called again. I have not had a response or a call as of today.

Getting those same calls from number 304-324-8040. The number is an ISDN number with fake caller ID information, so it can’t be called.

Did this twice on two separate occasions.

Voice: “This is the last reminder that the warranty on your car is about to expire. To speak to a customer service rep, press 1. To remove your name from the list, press 2.”

Pressed 1 and gave them some fake but credible information.

First time I did this, the person who answered transfered me to “The Warranty Division”, where I spoke to an agent named Joseph, claiming to be from Auto One Warranty Specialist (1-800-930-2794 ext 337). When I confronted him on the fact that these were robocalls to a mobile number with fake caller ID information (three violations of FCC and FTC rules), he hung up on me.

Second time I did this, I got transfered to a guy named Regal, who also hung up.

I called the 800 number and pressed the “existing customer” option. Got passed onto a customer service rep who claimed that all of their marketing is done via mail, nothing by the phone. He claimed ignorance, but confirmed that this was “The Warranty Division” at “Auto One Warranty Specialists” at 310 Commerce Street in Irvine, CA. He confirmed that the second guy “Regal” was a real employee and that “Joseph” was a real employee.

Basically, the following actions are illegal and you can complain to Federal Communications Comission (FCC) if they happen:
– robocall that hangs up
– robocall that does not answer within 15 seconds
– robocall or telemarketing call that does not hang up on you after you hang up
– any unsolicited call that fails to provide information on nature of the business, information of the company calling, contact information
– any unwillingness to provide information on company’s Do Not Call policies
– any call after you have asked someone to not call you
– fake Caller ID information
– no caller ID information
– telemarketing calls to mobile devices
– spam Faxes

If your name is on the Federal Trade Comission’s (FTC)’s Do Not Call Registry, you can complain to the FTC about a violation — this is separate from the FCC’s complaint process.

We have registered on the “Do Not Call List”, but these calls keep coming. We listen to the automated calls each time and hit “2” as instructed to be removed from their list. It works for a couple of weeks and then the calls return. Today I choose to hit “1” and speak to a person and she immediately hung up on me when a told her what I wanted. I did the google search thing, came up with your blog and tried the 800-649-1856, but it just put me in a voicemail loop for the option “5” of getting on the do not call list. It just recites the fedferal website information, even when you choose the option of being placed on their internal “Do Not Call” list. I called back and chose the option of speaking to a rep and immedicately upon her taking the call, told her I did not have an account and wanted to speak to a human being about the continued harassment. She (Amazingly) was polite and said, “No problem, we can do that.” And then began to recite the federal do not call instructions. I firmly explained my husband I have done all that, clicked on #2 to be removed from their list, etc. and nothing works and that I am tired of the harassment. This company continues to violate the law and it is evidenced by the numerous blogs, website postings and lawsuits that currently exist against them. She then informed me that she did not hav to listen to an irate customer, that I was violating her rights. This would almost be funny if it weren’t so aggravating!

My wife, my kids (ages 10 and 8) and myself all receive these calls daily on our Verizon cell phones. They even fill our voicemail with their final notices. There’s no car registered to the church, yet I get calls there, too! My personal vehicle is a 1985 Chevy C10 pickup. I believe that warranty ran out a long time ago.

I spoke with one of the sales people during one of those calls, she laughed and looked up the list to SEE if my car was covered, she told me, “Honey, you betta get a new car, ’cause you can’t be drivin’ ’round in a 85! You gonna get KILLED!” We laughed and she told me I’d be taken off the list.

Still on the list, still receiving the calls. Today’s calls come from 310-599-5636 and caller ID lists it as CMTN CMTN CA.

So…. We have vonage numbers that forward to our cell phone and we started getting calls from (310) 599-5636. Like everyone else, we’d ask that they not call us again and they would hang up. When we called the number back, we’d sit in limbo, waiting for someone to pick up. When they called back, up to 3 times a day, we asked for contact information and they would disconnect.

After more than a week of this, my husband finally played along, pretending he was going to purchase magazine subscriptions. After talking to him for a while, he discovered the name of the company, which is EBSCO, and the number to the customer service department, 1-800-243-7616.

So, I did a search on EBSCO and found they are a company that is basically split into 40 different divisions, including warranties and magazine subscriptions. Those are the departments that have been calling us. The corporate office is located in Birmingham, AL but they have offices located in Canton, Ohio, along with call centers in Cuyahoga Falls, Kent and Boardman, Ohio. I filled out a service form, advising of my problem. I’m hoping this resolves my issue. I let them know all ofmy numbers and that they were listed on the Do Not Call Registry – for way more than 31 days.

I also did a separate search on the customer service number and found a posting advising to email hwhitfield@ebsco.com. This stopped their problem.

Here are the links and info to assist you in contacting this company to resolve the issue:

on July 16, 2008 at 11:41 am19 menotyou
“I have received several calls. I press #1 or #2; ask politely to be taken off the list and explaing that they are in violation of Fedral law. When they become rude and say something like “Tell me something I care about…” that is when I grab my trusty air horn…give it a blast no more phone calls for me!”

your trusty air horn can actuly get you a trusty assult charge to…seriusly don’t do that, you can cause permanet hearing damage ( take this as a fact from a former telemarketer) and the company can file legal charges aginst you. This actuly happend at a call center i worked at were we sold insurance. if they becoume rude hang up, ask to speak with a manager ect ect you have many recorses avalable to you. Injuring them is not the way to go, so they annoyed you do you really need to do physical injury to them?

I recieve a similar call at least once per week. I’ve pressed number two more than twice to get off it. Today I was home when they called….I said Im interested ( I think I’ve been through this before) just to keep them on the phone because theyre quick to hang up if they sense no interest. After tactifully asking, the telescammer said the company is called ‘Automotive Warranty Services’, He then said He was from Fort Worth, Tx..I then clarified, ” where is the COMPANY?” He then said Fort Worth, Tx. I then said, “in case we get disconnected can i get your contact number?. ( i dont have a number catcher on my home phone) After that question, He promptly and quietly hung up.

I have been getting these calls since May on my mobile phone. I have filed FTC and FCC complaints for each call I receive. I hesitate to put my number on the Do Not Call List, as I feel it will just be like adding myself to the contact lists for companies who blatantly violate the FTC laws already (as these auto warranty telemarketers are doing).

I was disappointed to see T-Mobile is not doing anything about this. The customer service rep I talked to claimed this was the first time he’s heard about this. I find that hard to believe. Verizon filed a suit to try to stop their customers from being harassed. Maybe we need to pressure our phone service providers into doing something about these calls. Money (or the possibility of losing it) is a good motivator. So demand that your provider protects you from harassment or you might have to end your service.

I have been innundated by these auto warranty calls since early February of 2008. These calls started several days after I purchased a 2 year old van from a used car dealer in Salem, NH. Since them, I have received 27 calls, mostly for auto warranty sales. Down below is a copy of a letter that I sent to various phone number providers:

Gentleman

I hope that this email reaches the proper people. Your email address was best choice of reaching somebody at your company.

My wife is presently in the Intensive Care unit of a local hospital, partially attributable some annoying sales phone calls from phone numbers traced back to your firm. The stress of dealing with “YOUR” phone numbers and the inability of being able to either “OPT OUT’ or deal with the callers in a civil manner caused a great deal of stress on her already weakened physical condition.

Attached is a spreadsheet containing times, dates and the phone numbers envolved.

I realize that you or your firm did not make these calls; however, they came from numbers leased or sold by your firm. Whether or not, you are responsible for their use; you, at one time or another had to have been notified by some in a similiar situation of the annoyance factor involved in calls coming from these numbers.

I am presently mulling over contacting a lawyer to see if a lawsuit is possible. My phone number, 978-258-****, became a legal on the DO NOT CALL list as of July 27, 2008.

I do not exspect that much will come of my letter to you, but at least I have a copy in my saved email files to prove my attempt to contact you.

I would appreciate whatever you can do to rectify this situation.

I can be reached at the above phone number and also the the above email address.

Thank You

Richard L. Russell

I actually received a response from Level3, whether it was a automated response or not, I am not sure. The part about my wife is true. Some of the problems are caused by the stress of these calls. Enclosed below is a spreadsheet that I made of time, dates,phone numbers, locations, and issuer of the phone number.

The spread sheetcame through with the last column wrapped to the line below.

Every call I get is put on the spreadsheet and I try to send it out to each phone number provider.

I did on one occassion blow a very shrill whistle in somebodies ear. He wanted to know why I did it. I told him that you called me and the phone company told me a long time ago that as long as I did not make the phone call, then I can pretty much answer the call anyway I want to. I still have the whistle situated near the phone just in case.

It is a shame that the Federal Government will not or can not do anything to resolve this problem or that the various phone companies will not recognize that a problem exists.

The third time I got the Auto Warranty call. I acted interested, then I hung up while they were transferring me. They called back, and their real number registered on my caller ID. I called that number and was able to get connected back to the guy I had been talking to.
The real number is 925-771-2501

My husband and I are blind and cannot drive therefore, we do not own an auto. They have been calling us for several months maybe over a year. We have tried to do everything to get them to stop calling us. They called yesterday and said they would take us off the list. But they called us again today. We also got a card probably from the same place. I was worried that maybe someone stole our identity. But now I can see we are not alone. I feel so harrassed we went and got on the don’t call list. I had the impression they were doing criminal activities that is why I decided to google to see if I could find any info about them. Maybe they would like to warrantee my white cane:)

Why can’t someone stop them!
Deanna
PS we do not know what numbers are used when they call us but our experience is identical with what everyone is saying about press 1 etc.

Please don’t blow whistles or air horns in the phone. There are lots of ways to fight these telemarketers, and it’s best not to give them any grounds for complaints against us. If they’re really annoying you, you can simply hang up the phone.

Thank you.

Keep fighting – the information and legal way.
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn

Man…am I glad I found this site.I have a T-Mobile phone and its 4+ times a week,every week.I’ve tried the REMOVE thing about 5 times,being rude,telling them I have a 68 Coronet car,among other things…to no avail.

This is just a follow up to my posting on Aug 15 to this site. I received a phone call from “Stan” (with a British sounding accent) asking if the phone calls had stopped from 310-599-5636. He said that he was calling on behalf of **dx.net. That is all that I understood he said. He was calling from an 408 area code and wanted me to call an area 212 phone number about the calls.
Hopefully this is a case of the higher up on the coporate ladder you go, the more the people will want to make the problem go away.
One quick comment about blasting horns and whistles in the telemarkerters ears. Years ago, I began receiving obscene phone calls. I know who was making them. The phone company put pen registers on the line. In the course of my conversations with telephone company officials, I asked what would happen to me if I gave a little bit of obscenity back in return. The phone company laughed and said “An obscene phone caller complaining about an obscene response to an obscene call that they placed, that is the best line that we have heard in a long time. Nothing would happen to me as long as I was receiving the call.” So, I figure the same would hold true for annoying incoming phone calls.

I finally got the calls to stop by calling this number:
1-954-623-6784
People actually answer the phone there!
I think it may have been luck of the draw, but I was transfered to a manager who promised to personally remove my name and number from their call lists. Its almost too bad, because I was beginning to have fun telling their sales associates that I my name was Francis O’Reiley and that I drove a 2006 Izuzu Ascender with 300,000 miles on it.

I got this call one time and I quized the guy how he knew my auto warrenty was up and he said, “Oh we go through thousands of dealerships” and I asked which one and he could not tell me. Then I said, “cause I got a 88 Chevy Caprice which warrenty has been up. And he just said, “Oh thats a mistake then bye”

I am so thankful for this Blog – it has been very informative.
I have been receiving these calls for over 4 months.
Seems speaking with these people never works. I always get hung up on when complaining to them. I today filed FCC complaint. I wish they would list open complains against this company and say what the status is. Thanks for the information. I will check back here as I try to get this phone assault to stop.

Thank you so much for this information, Lisa! We just moved to the state of New Mexico in July and since moving here our phone has been flooded with these horrible phone calls. We very rarely received any telemarketing calls in our prior state (North Dakota). I do not trust any company that trains its sales reps to actually HANG UP on a potential customer who asks to be taken off their calling list. Not only is that rude but it is a huge indicator of the way a customer would be treated.

Tonight after getting so many of these phone calls, I once again pressed the button to talk to a sales rep. Only this time instead of asking to be taken off their list I pretended that I was a frightened little old lady who was afraid my car’s warranty was about to end. I asked my sales rep Eric if my warranty was really about to end and he told me yes. I asked him if my car was really already covered and he said yes. He even said I was writing checks every month to his company for the warranty! These were all outright lies. When I said I didn’t remember writing the checks and asked what was the name of the company, he told me it was Warranty Division. So then I put on my usual, normal, no-nonsense stern-Mother’s voice and told him to take my number off their list. He just hung up on me.

So now after being actually lied to in addition to being hung up, I looked on Google and found your wonderful, informative blog site.

May God bless you for your assistance to all of us whose privacy and peace and quiet are being assaulted by these unscrupulous, dishonest home invaders. Thank you.

Ok so here is a trick you can try, google the recording that you get from a phone number having been disconnected. save it to your computer, turn up your speakers, and record the message onto your phone as a new recorded message. Keep that going for about 2 wks, tell all your friends what you are doing so they know your number is not really disconnected, and so they can press the star key to leave a message for you. Telemarketers will disappear. I personally was getting 2 calls a day, up to 6 days a week from these hassling auto warranty insurance numbers. Some of the numbers mentioned were recognized, but some of them come onto my phone simply as private. The other option i have worked on is to record the very first part of the disconnected number, use a mic to record my voice on the last part of the message, put the two recordings together so that the first 5-10 seconds sounds like your number is disconnected, then finishes off with your regular message, that you usually record, to leave a message. Make sure the recording is nice and clear, even try calling your cel to make sure it sounds as if your number really is disconnected. if you can’t find the soundbyte, send me an email and for $5.00 via paypal, I will email the Audio file to you. waydancer@juno.com

My calls come from a FL number. It’s 386-736-8732. They hang up on me every time I say I want to be taken off thier call list or ask to speak to a mananger. This problem is nationwide. If the FCC or the Do Not Call Registry can’t stop them I suggest you contact your congressman. Maybe if we annoy them enought they might step in and help.

I just received a call from the “this is your second and final notice that your auto warranty is about to expire”. I have been pressing the #2 to be removed since July so this time I pressed #1 to speak to a customer service rep. Got “Ron” on the line and I asked him what company name is it aht keeps calling me even though I have repeatedly pressed the #2 to be remove. He stated “I’ll make sure you get removed so you dont need to know the name of the company”. Then he hung up on me as I was talking. I dont have caller ID but I sure wish I did.

He stated “I’ll make sure you get removed so you don’t need to know the name of the company”. Then he hung up on me as I was talking. I dont have caller ID but I sure wish I did.

that’s a huge ftc violation, telemarketers are required to state, #1 their name, #2 purpose of call and #3 name of company with in the first 30 seconds after reaching the named individual.

for example from scripts i used

“hello may i speak with john doe?
“this is he”
“oh hi this is jonathon custer calling on behalf of “company name” the reason for my call is first to say thank you for being a valued, account/card/mortgage holder and second to introduce you to a new insurance program available to our customers.” then go into details from there.

you should ask for company name before even asking to be removed, they HAVE to tell you. This guy needs fired and company fined. simple.

http://www.generalwarrantyservice.com/index.htm
Sorry it’s long but it’s worth reading, I got solutions!
I have been getting these calls (for the car warrenty) at home for about a year just like everyone else sometimes several times a day. I put our phone number on the do not call registry which didn’t work and now they are calling my cell phone. I just got a call at work and that sent me over the edge. I dialed 1 to talk talk to somebody. When the person came on the line, I could hear the background noise and it totally sounded like a call center. I asked the guy what business this was and he couldn’t answer me and hung up. I Googled and found this article which has fired me up even more. I noticed that the phone number that “Keke” posted on August 26, 2008 9:07 PM received a call from was the same as the phone number for the employment contact, Mr. Anderson, in “Chad’s” post on August 27, 2008 4:33 PM. So I called. A young woman answered “Warrenty Services”. I asked her why when I get the phone call telling me that my car warrenty is about to expire and I press 1 to talk to somebody and I ask which warrenty is about to expire, why the person is not able to tell me. She said she didn’t know and she got very flustered. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she said I couldn’t because they were all in a meeting but that she would talk my name and number and they would call me back. I told her “no” I wanted to be transfered to a voice mail. The extension of the voice mail she sent me to is 1226.
I just called again and asked to speak to Mr. Anderson. She would not transfer me to him with out me telling her my name and why I was calling. I asked her if she knew that it was illegal to call #s on the do not call registry and to send automated calls. She said she didn’t know that and she put me on hold. Rick Peters the General Manager came on the line and I asked him all the same questions I had already asked the receptionist. He got very upset and tried to say that it probably wasn’t his company that called me and that there are several other warrenty companies making phone calls. He said he would put my #s on the do not call list. I said I wasn’t sure it would do any good sense I’ve already done that, aside from being on the national list. So he took my home, cell and work #s and then said he would take it a step further and put them on the list at the agency in California that all the other warrenty companies get their phone lists from.
So call 781-569-1000 , until they change their #, and ask to speak to Rick Peters the General Manager. Tell him you want your #s taken off of the list at the office in California that gives phone numbers to all the warrenty companies.
Hopefully this works!

I did not start anything. In fact my general position on lawsuits is to avoid them until everything free and independent of court intervention (that is still legal and good) has failed. Try the complaint forums. Our family has been free of trouble for months now, pretty much since a week or so after I posted this.

These people are doing something illegal already, so the government should be prosecuting. Additionally, there seem to be several companies employing these techniques, but it is hard to identify which of us are experiencing which companies. Thirdly, though they are very annoying, and possibly costing us cell phone minutes, they really aren’t doing that much financial damage (and I believe that emotional or mental trauma is poor grounds for a suit).

Dear Lisa: We are sorry about this major inconvenience. We, unfortunately feel just as sullied, as you feel harassed. Digitcom is a telephone carrier that simply sells phone cards and provides phone numbers to retail and wholesale customers. The wholesalers take those numbers and provide them to their own customers who tend to be telemarketers. Digitcom has not placed any calls to your number; it does not do any telemarketing or sell any products such as car insurance. Only the wholesaler’s customers are calling you and others.

We have created a webpage http://didcheck.digitcom.net for you to enter the offending number and your number so that you can obtain the contact information on the wholesaler who is using that number and complain directly to them.

We are eager to help people like you have their issues resolved by wholesalers and have set up our own email address NOC@digitcom.net so that people making complains to them can also copy us and we can try and make sure they are following up on your problem. Again, sorry for your problems. Digitcom

It’s seems as nothing helps, these auto-warranty companies continue calling. I posted several complaints at http://800notes.com where people are tracking these calls. I will give the suggestions a try and report the results. Thank you!

I’ll try the above suggestions and pray they work for me. When I press one to speak to a rep so that I can ask them to remove me, like you, I’m hung up on. I’ve had three calls today – two to my home phone, one to my cell phone. Very annoying.

The kicker is… I DON’T EVEN OWN A CAR! I’m also not diabetic, don’t have a mortgage, don’t have school-age children, and am quite happy with my health insurance – thank you! These nuisance recorded telemarketing calls should be banned…

Pressed one to speak to a rep. Told them my name was Rod Blagojovich. Guess they don’t follow the news much or are not familiar with Illinois politics. Anyway, Kyle told me the name of the company was Dealer Warranty Services and the policy is underwritten by Great Choice of Las Vegas, NV.

I asked for a direct line, and he offered to keep a line open for me while I went out to my car to get the VIN and mileage. When I told him I was too busy right now, he directed me to call back at (800) 581-1575.

They wanted $2570 for a four year extension of my current warranty that expires in mid 2011.

These guys are not the brightest bunch. It shouldn’t take too much to put them out of business.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about these cretins, other than pressing “1” and wasting as much of their time as possible. I suppose if thousands of people had the time and inclination to do this, they’d be forced out of business. Nice to think about, at any rate.
First of all, they are not making the calls – they outsource the job, probably to an outfit outside the US that cares even less about FCC rules than they do. The calls are free internet (VOIP) calls, and are computer-generated with faked “from” numbers that sometimes belong to innocent people (who get harassed to no end by irate recipients of the telemarketing messages). Please don’t call back those numbers, or post them on the internet, because the scammers aren’t connected to those numbers at all. Think of it as e-mail spam, delivered to your phone.
As for the “warranty”, that is a complete scam, and probably what these jerks will eventually be jailed for. Talk to them long enough, and you’ll find out it costs over $2,000, which you pay in advance, and if your car ever breaks down, you’ll need a full-time lawyer to squeeze a dollar out of them. Offer to pay it by check or money order, and they’ll stall and sputter and eventually hang up on you, because they’d be guilty of mail fraud (a Federal crime) and easily tracked down if they accepted payment by mail. (This is a good test of any business you have doubts about.)
Apparently there are now similar spam calls offering to consolidate your credit card debt at 6%. All you have to do is give them your credit card numbers. You can guess what happens next.

The one solid lead on these crooks is the number (925) 771-2501, which someone got hold of when one of the telemarketers made the mistake of calling him back. Anyone with the connections or resources to track that number down, and report the owners to the FCC, would be doing the world a favor.

I did not give personal information, except names, which are perfectly public and relevant.

Also, to the best of my knowledge the things I, the author of this blog, posted are true.

And this is not a pointless post. It suggests civil ways to respond to annoyance. Telemarketing to cell phones is costly and illegal. Many people feel they have been harassed. I did some research on the legal and effective responses, and am sharing them with whoever wishes to read this.

I’m very grateful for your post. Verbatim, word for word this is what we’ve been hearing. We get numbers from all kinds of area codes with the same automated message. Recently they have been (870) numbers

My husband and I, along with some of our friends have been recieving these calls for quite some time. Even when my husband has pressed 1 to ask about getting taken off they hang up. Today, I was able to talk to someone, and he was actually nice to me. His name was “marshall” and I first asked who they were and how they get my number, he told me it was a place called “Warrenty help center” and they were located in “Atlanta, GA”. He assured me my number would be taken off the list if I gave it to him. I didn’t right away, and continually asked to speak to a supervisor. And as someone spoke above — I’ve worked for call centers before, I know there is always someone there who is not on the phones ready for when someone wants to talk to a supervisor. Eventually he told me his superior was not there (since it is saturday) and that he was the shift supervisor, and upon asking for a number to contact his superior, he told me they couldn’t because they got the directed calls only, there was no incalling. He did offer to give me his “cell-phone” which sounded like he just wanted me to be happy and go away, and I assured him It wouldn’t be real. As I was talking I looked up the place he was refering to “Warrenty Help center in Atlanta, GA” and all i found was a page saying they’d recieved the same number with the same message, and the same answer when asked who they were. Clearly, this place wasn’t real. And as I told “marshal” that I couldn’t find it, and asked what the real company name was, again he said “I’m sorry you can’t find it on the internet ma’am but I assure you it is a real company” – Over and Over he wouldn’t let me talk to a supervisor, told me I could have his cell phone number which I didn’t take bc it wouldn’t be real, assured him he was working for a scam and hoped he got caught, and I told him often I knew he was lying to me.

Surprisingly, I was not hung up on like my husband has been. but it is a really time consuming part of my day — and it scares me, because I don’t think they are real, and that when they get people’s credit card information they are screwing a lot of people who just didn’t know better. I want to do something about it more for them than for myself…

I just received about the 100th call. Different number than usual. I am an AT&T subscriber. I don’t think it has anything to with our phone companies, but this is so frustrating. They call me in the middle of work and I have to answer any calls from my cell due to receiving a lot of work related calls on my cell. I talk to people and they say I’ve been removed. I’m so tired of it. I try to call back the number and it just says it’s not working or busy. The number I received the call from today is 251-947-8966.

I have been getting these calls for quite some time, and I just usually hung up, or sometimes pressed 9 to be taken off their call list (which obviously doesn’t work) but recently they started calling my mother on her cell phone, and this is when I started getting irritated. She is an older woman that doesn’t really understand these calls, she doesn’t have a car, therefore, no expiring warranty, but these calls worry her because she started thinking that there was something she needed to do or pay for or whatever, and thankfully I happen to be there one day when she got the call to explain it to her. This whole subject really bothers me now because it is unfair to do this to someone like my mother, she is an innocent older woman, that believes these types of scams when they sound very official in their calls, and like many people out there, could get taken advantage of by these harrassing phone calls.
We are on the do not call list, and have filed complaints with our state officials, but if there are any other suggestions, I am open to trying anything, especially to protect my mother and others like her.

It first started on my cell. I had registered my cell with the FTC and have not gotten them anymore. However, they have infiltrated our entire work phone system and I received about 10 phone calls today already! Its calling from a new phone number 617-718-7498. I have also received an international number 011 and a Spanish one that I can’t understand along with random call and hang ups. It’s really frustrating! Thank you for all the info I called one of the managers from the car company and will call and leave message every time I get a phone call.

This is an epidemic of unusual proportions and it has been going on for a very long time now. I see news stories about this scam on local and even national news broadcasts and still the government/law enforcement appears powerless to stop them

Some misinformation is being tossed about though and I thought I might clear up one thing. You DO NOT need to put your cell phones on the National Do No Call list.

I’ve had arguments with numerous people on this so don’t take my word for it. Here is an article by consumer reports

“It’s actually illegal for telemarketers to call your cell phone, though your carrier or its partners have the legal right to text you with upgrade offers or account notices. (For tips on curbing unwanted text messages on your cell phone, see: “Cell-phone spam: How to curb it.”) Also, non-commercial organizations such as charities and political campaigns can contact you all they want, on your landline or your cell.

You can register your cell-phone number with the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry (https://www.donotcall.gov/), but the agency will as yet do little or nothing with it. The registry is for landline numbers. You used to have to re-register those with the FTC every five years. But now registrations remain in effect until you change your number, thanks to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 that became law in February 2008.”

So if they are calling your cell phone that ILLEGAL. I tried to get them to stop calling AGAIN we will see how it goes.

We receive these calls at home multiple times a day for days on end and then nothing for a couple of months and then it starts all over again.

One interesting tidbit is that I received a call at work yesterday, my internal number used to belong to a different employee. The ONLY calls I get on that number are related to magazine subscription renewals.

My guess is that this company is purchasing magazine subscription lists and making calls from that data. This would explain how they are getting cell phone numbers as MANY people use their cell phone as a contact phone these days.

Today I received a new phone call…from a REAL live person! She claimed to be calling on behalf of Ford and that this was totally unrelated to the pre-recorded phone calls that I have been getting. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she wanted to know why I needed one…told her she was being rude. She told me again that she was calling for Ford and that she needed to talk to me about my vehicle warranty. I told her that I wasn’t interested, plus my vehicle has too many miles on it…again asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me that the warranties cover you to 175,000 miles. Asked to speak to a supervisor again cause she was still rude…she told me that all calls are recorded and that I didn’t need to be wasting her supervisors time. I told her that I would be calling back to speak to a supervisor and that I would spend the rest of my day filing complaints with everybody that I could…she told me to have a good day trying to find her and filing complaints and hung up on me. I think my head spun on my shoulders. Long story short…I filed complaints with my local phone co., Ford Motor, the FCC, the Attorney General, and the BBB. And I just got off the phone with her supervisor informing her of all of that…Gee, I hope Michelle the rude telemarketer has a fabulous day cause companies really don’t need the liablity of employees like her!

We too are have been getting auto warranty calls from an “out of area” caller making a caller ID impossible. When I hit 1 to get to an agent, they hang up as soon as I ask them to take my number off their phone list.
I don’t know the company name nor the number so I can’t use the Do Not Call Registry.
Does anyone have any ideas how I can find the company or phone no or get off the call list?
Thank you
DT

I get these calls frequently on my cell. They are always from weird area codes. Since almost 100% of the legitimate calls I get are local (or from 2 main other states that I know the area codes for) I know before picking up the call that it is a scammer from a warranty place.

I never pick up.

I simply save the number on my caller ID list as “Car Scammer” or “Warranty Scammer” and go about my business.

I have no irritation other than to look down when my cell rings, see the number (or my name that I assigned to it) and ignore it.

No worries about do not call lists, or harrasment from these losers. Ignore works very well!

We in Canada are getting the same type of annoying calls. Today I received a call from 202-495-7127, which according to area codes, would be Washington, DC. I have also received calls from California. I answer my cell phone, and as soon as I know it is a warranty automatic call, I simply hang up. I don’t want to give them any of my time. Hopefully they don’t call back when they don’t get anywhere. It really is a big problem. There was a scam recently, reported by Telus Mobility in Canada, that found that when one was prompted to submit their cell phone number to a “do not call” database, it was actually signing up the unsuspecting user for sales calls. Big time annoying. I wonder what steps are being taken by government or the companies that help them place their calls?

It’s happening here in Canada too. I just hang up on them or do not answer the phone. I just recently went to the CRTC website (Canada’s version of the FCC) to see if I could register a cell phone and it worked. Hopefully in 30 days I will stop receiving there calls If not I’ll just register a complaint with the CRTC I’m sure once they get enough complaints something will be done about it even if they aren’t based in Canada or the U.S.

I have been getting the same phone calls from the810-742-6219 number. I work at nights until 2 A.M. and they like to call me as early as 6 A.M. I have warranty and everything so I didnt know what to think or what to do. Until they continually called. Im still getting calls like 4 times a week. I thought maybe it was a local thing (I live in Alabama), but now I realize its way more then a local thing. And I had no clue this was going on for a year. I figured surely they would be shut down by now.

I’m glad I was of assistance! I’m not happy with the fact that I had to lie to get the information out of them, but I feel it was justified given their disregard for my repeated requests for removal and their blatant disregard regarding compliance with the TCPA of Federal Law.

I sleep during the day. Night time job. These calls are driving me NUTS. I have to leave the phone on because of an ailing mother. I have NO sympathy for ANY telemarketer. They are ALL scum. What gives you the right to invade my home on a telephone line that I pay for? As far as using an air horn on these calls, these scum KNOW they are doing an illegal act. I doubt you would get arrested for it. As for me. I just got off the phone with the car warrenty jerks. I told him in no uncertain terms that he had just woke me up and I knew where he worked and he was a dead man. I hope the FBI, CIA, NAACP, and anyone else comes knocking at my door. I would love to get these scum suckers in court. I have asked them nicely to take me off the call lists. All my phones have been on the DNC list for years. I have filed numerous complaints with the Gov. NOTHING works.
Just a thought, I doubt that air horns and whistles would work anyways. With todays technoligy I would think that most headsets would have a DB limiter built in them.

Yep, our AT&T phones have been getting these irritating auto warranty calls also. Averaging about 1 per day. I usually ignore, they come from different numbers and also some “unknown number” ones. What is hard to understand is that these techniques must have some level of success. If absolutely nobody in the world fell for this crap, I would imagine these bogus companies would try something else. But there must be just enough idiots out there buying to make it worth the daily rejection and grief they experience. In fact, nobody wants to be bothered on their cell phones to buy anything! It’s more invasive than calling at home. Wish there was a technology that could disable or otherwise impair there equipment when they call my line….hummm ,…. something to invent.

I agree that it would be great if the cell phone companies would develop the technology to block certain numbers like you can block comments from certain people on Myspace or emails from certain people or even from unapproved people. Since we’re paying for cell phone minutes, we should have more control like that. And it could be optional. But right now the major providers do not have these features.

Tonight on the news I heard about a service that transfers blocked calls to a toll free number, which numbers have the legal right to know who is calling, so the number becomes unblocked. The idea is that if you know the number of the caller, you can threaten them with reporting them, or ignore the call. (In my experience these calls came in with numbers, so it doesn’t matter.) Anyway, the website for the service is http://www.trapcall.com

My problem is that they only call me between 2:30-4:30 pm a few times during the week days and I cannot answer my cell phone. So they leave me a blank 3 second voice mail most of the time, all though sometimes it’s the regular “car warranty expiration” message. I will take one of the suggestions to leave a complaint with the FCC, but just looking at how long this has been going on, I doubt that anything can really be done. I have been placing all the numbers on my cell’s Reject list but IT’S A DIFFERENT NUMBER EVERY SINGLE TIME…at least since the first few times. So even if I could block numbers it would be useless. So 2-3 times a week I have to listen to my blank voice mails and add another few numbers on my reject list. It’s really annoying. Maybe I’ll get someone on the phone and start harassing them back just for the heck of it. It’s really unfair to be wasting so much of my time and cell minutes.

Yes these calls as many as five a day are annoying and cost a minute of your caller plan or maybe money. Although Verizon may be the most common plans to be called they are not the only ones by far. Verizon among others do not not want to take any action and why would they, if five million calls are made per day @ 14C /call -do the math.
For those in my technical sphere voice recognition recording is the way to go because then later in the law courts the actual caller will be recognised and if these are caller working from home a lawsuit will fix them for ever. A class action lawsuit against Verizon would also be in order here.
I have logged every call and recorded most. Curious is that the scammers click off if certain Q are asked, I am now getting better at keeping them on the line. It is also curious that these calls are from many area codes but the message is the same. This suggests persons working from home.
Take action, class action lawsuit against Verizon will get the most bang for the buck.

So, do we or do we not know the origin of the phone calls? Personally, if I knew where the office was located…

(here the administrator/moderator intervenes for threats are not appreciated on this blog. Though we get frustrated, and though these people are dishonest, we do not need to take the lower ground of turning into a lynch mob ourselves. Do be civil. – Lisa of Longbourn)

Man, I’m glad I’m not the only one. I have done the “please let me speak to a manager” bit several times, but they still keep calling. Tonight, they ramped it up. The guy on the other end said he’d get the manager, then I think he came right back on the line. When I informed him “robocalls” are illegal in Wyoming (calls placed by a machine the way these calls are done), and that we are on the no-call list, he informed me I could “stick the no-call list …” Suffice it to say he didn’t say “in your nostril.” I was shocked to hear a telemarketer speak that way, even one as annoying and persistent as these people. He then made a snide comment about “I’ll bet you’re recording this call, too,” but I was so mad, I just hung up.

As u can see i have a serious problem with this. They are calling from different area codes and whenever i asked to be removed from the list another area code calls. I get hung up on by them. My cell company says there is nothing they can do except add my nbr to the do not call list or change my number which i have done once already. i get charges $20 dollars everytime i change my number. all the calls dont stop. Tmobile doesnt have a lawsuite that i know of. Anyone else have it this bad with this many numbers???

Like many others that have posted, I’ve been getting these for months on my home office line, which is through Cox Cable – oddly enough, we are not (yet!) getting them on our home line which is through Verizon. I did contact Cox, the rep said that there isn’t really anything that they can do since the calls come from different numbers – she said that we can complain to the state public utility agency or to the FCC. Her comment to me was “if you figure out how to get rid of them let me know, I’m getting them too.” At first I just ignored them, but then I got aggravated and got an operator on the phone. I asked them which car they were calling about, they said that information was confidential and they could not give it to me – bizarre! So then, as you all have found, I tried pressing 2 to remove the number – which did exactly nothing. I then got through to an operator and asked to be removed – I was told that they did not have that capability (?) and then he hung up on me. Usually, the numbers are typical U.S. format of 3-digit area code followed by the number, but more recently it looks like they are coming from outside the U.S. – the last one (this a.m.) showed as 1-062-213-1831, last week it was 1-062-293-5719. We have been registered on Do No Call Registry for years – it does not seem to matter. There is a place on the registry where you can submit a complaint: https://www.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx.

I am having a similar yet seemingly more frustrating experience with these jerks. I work for a law firm as a receptionist and I literally get anywhere from 1 to 10 calls a day. Each time from a different out of state phone number. I have spoke to only 2 people there that have not hung up on me.
Part of the the problem is that each person here has a direct line number that is separate from our main phone number. Somehow they have gotten a hold of all of these numbers.

Okay now I feel better. I ‘ve been getting calls from two numbers 847-705-8225 & 910-464-5079(which if you do a reverse number look up is a residence in Robbins, NC). So I do what you all have done, listen to them say its my 2nd and final notice, wait to speak to a rude live person…once i begin telling them I don’t want their product or phone calls, they hang up only to begin calling again the next day. Today I filed a complain with my Dept. of Consumer Affairs, hoping they can shed some light on it. Thank you all for this timely and much needed information.

It seems to me that if you have an 800 number for the companies involved that you can cost them about $0.20 for each and every time that you call them. I suggest that we all just keep calling and calling. This is gonna cost them a lot of money. Just keep the call center rep on the line as long as possible.

I’m getting these same calls; sometimes once every day; the most recent ones come from 1-863-904-4827. I’ve been on do-not-call; these people obviously do not care. Either they believe the system cannot act against them for this or will act so slowly as to allow them to conclude their scam; dissolve, and be reformed as a new company not legally bound to the actions of the previous. They’re calling at all hours, this is harassment at this point, quite frankly. Basically give them your personal information for who knows what or they never leave you alone.

The phone company should be required to stop these calls. You can’t expect the criminals to follow the rules. The phone companies have the computers and the programs that should be able to prevent calls from hijacked numbers.

New number to add to the list.
1-516-858-3480.
This message was a little longer and a little more “concerned” about me being without a warranty. After I pressed 2 to be removed, a male voice message said I would be removed and not called again. Since this message was different, I will know if they call from a different number.

I have also received one from an appearent int’l number just like Cindy. To many calls have come in and I didn’t write it down.

At the risk of messing it up, the calls have slowed significantly the last week or so.

I’d think any phone company could make a fortune simply by offering an optional service whereby only numbers you authorize are allowed to call your phone. Think of it as “extremely unlisted”. Any other number that dials yours gets a recording saying “The number you have dialed is has not listed you as an authorized contact”.

It should be a simple facility for them to offer, and would *completely* eliminate telemarketer calls – from anyone, including politicians and charities.

It would be easy to allow any customer to specify hundreds of valid numbers – think of it like this – a provider with one million customers could allow each one to specify one thousand 10 digit numbers and it would only require 10 GB of storage, it pittance by todays computer standards.

Even better, for cell phones it would be easy to upload your cell phone contact list to your “allowed callers list”.

I have been receiving these calls on my Sprint cell phone for over a week now, at least 4 of them so far. This time I’ve had enough after requesting 3 times to be removed from the list and I asked the man *who sounded like he was using an extremely fake Indian accent* “May I please speak to your supervisor?” He asked me “Ma’am may I ask what this is regarding?” To which I replied “Please, just let me speak to your supervisor.” Then he hung up on me.

These are the three numbers and States these calls are supposedly coming from:

Well im a Verizon customer, and i got another Warrenty call today….. so sueing didn’t work, i assumeing. the past couple times theey have called they use a restricted number, and they always just hangup when i talk to one of their phine “rep’s”. Now one could say dont pick up restrictd numbers but thats not an option for me, family/friends have restricted numbers. Talked to a verizon customer service rep and they told me to go to my police dept. and get a subpeona to get that restricted number.

So what am i supposed to do? Report a restricted number to the FCC? (ive already deleted all the other numbers so i have no idea what they are)

An aspiring attorney should do some research and file a class action law suit. They would have nearly every person in America as a client
Also, it isn’t just Verizon cell phones. I have a number of businesses and we get these calls on every single line, their numbers even pop up on our fax machines, their computer is just indiscriminately calling numbers. We also get these on our Sprint, Helio, ATT&T and T-Mobile cell phones. I had made it a point years ago to include ALL of our numbers on the Federal No Call list, these people just don’t care. We still get the calls. I just hung up on my 4th one today.
I’ve tried it all too. Talked to a representative, gone through the sales spiel, asked to speak to a manager only to have them hang up, or the person I spoke with was a clueless idiot. Still, NOTHING, we still get these calls.
What good is the Federal No Call list if it isn’t honored or enforced?
I think it is time for legal action. Add me to the Class Action List.

Well, having gotten an increasing number of these on my home and VZW cell I finally registered on the Fed “Do not call” list last week. I had tried the “press 2 to be removed”, had another call within a half hour. But the topper was yesterday, when moving my daughter out her college dorm I got on the dorm elevator,only to hear the all too familiar message coming out of the elevator’s emergency phone grill!!! I was laughing so hard when I got off the elevator that I was crying. They don’t buy these numbers, their computer just starts calling all the numbers in an area code. I suspect that “pressing 2” doesn’t remove you, actually it probably just gives them a confirmed telephone number to call again, not unlike a similar effect if you click the “remove me link” in spam emails.

these people do not stop at the telephone harassment! i am now receiving postcards in the mail for the same type of “final notice” claims. when i called the number on the post card i got the same messages asking if i would like to speak to someone and upon choosing to speak to a representative i quickly asked the man to take me off of their mailing list. after he said asked why i wouldnt want to renew my auto warranty i explained to him that i did not have a car and that i just wanted my name and address out of their systems. he said he could do that and then tried to get me off the phone and i reminded him that he had not even asked for my address. he then tried to convince me that i had already given it to him and then hung up on me. so much for FTC laws!

^^^that is the number to their corporate office, call them and tell them you are going to file harassment charges on them if they do not remove your phone number from their list. It’s the only solution….

I have have 5 CIncinnati Bell telephone numbers (1 home, 4 cell ) which all receive the same type of calls. Two of the numbers are for minor chidren and one is for a very young adult. Although we have been plagued by the phone calls for the past several months, it wasn’t too upset untill yesterday when one of my children started giving personal information did I decide to let it bother me.
Our history, briefly, is as follows:
*ususally we push the “to be removed from the list” opt. on our home phone- to no avail
*one child always adds them to her block list- she has a Samsung cell phone which has an option to add numbers to a reject list whish she also uses. So far this is working pretty good for her. The amount of calls she gets are dropping dramatically.
* it seems it will do no good but I just added all the numbers to the don not call list

Yesterday I spoke to the man to whom my child was giving info. to. She had already given him some info. when I took the phone. I told him I own all the cars here and I did not want any warranties so please remove us from the list. I was told I could not untill I told him the approximate milage on the car. I asked him how would he feel if I called his house and asked personal info. about his children. He asked me for my millage in response. I asked him why and didn’t he think it was stupid that he couldn’t remove me from the list? He asked me for the milage. I said to him, “Ok, how about this. Sir what is the year, make and modle of your car? What is the milage on your car and I would like to know the same information about all or your childrens” cars (if you have ) them. He asked me for my milage. I asked him how he would feel if he received unwanted phone calls like the ones he makes which feel invasive. He asked me for my milage.
I was impressed by hoe he stayed on the phone with me and stayed calm and polite because I was yelling in his ear. I am not ashamed of this because I feel like they got too close to my family and it is my job to protect them. I am now out for blood so to speak. This needs to stop. Who really knows who they are and what they can do with the information they obtain from unsuspecting children. They now know my child’s name, phone number, year, make and model of the car- how hard would it be to get an address now!
Today I called the number Kevin posted on 19/13. I could not reach Rick as he suggested. I spoke with Melony. She removed our numbers. I asked if she was aware of all the website and blogs about the company she works for and suggested she take a look to see what kind of response people are havinhg to what she does.
Melony told me thay elive many of the comments are from disgruntled employees- intersting. I asked her why we get calls from so many different numbers and does she know how I could be taken off all the lists. She told me ther are about 25-30 differnt companies that do the same thing.

I sugest we ask the following questions of the telmarketers as I did:
what is your name
what is the name of the companies you are calling for
where are they located
how did you get my number

I have been searching for information I can use to fight back. After looking at several sites and talking to some officials this is what I have come up with.

*There are several different companies doing this to us. Some are legit and some are scammers. I beleive we can get off the list from the legit companies easily by calling them back. The scammers are the ones we need to report.

*Here is my plan of action:
1. start a list of helpful information for us to use
– if everyone could contribute the useful information maybe we could create one comprehensive resource for all to use

I have learned the folowing:
-the National -Do-Not -Call list web site is http://www.ftc.gov/dontcall , 1-888-382-1222 or TTY 1-866-290-4236 (people are saying it doesn’t matter if you’re one it or not they still get called)

-the Public Utilities Commision have no juristdiction over tellemarketers

– the Attorney General’s office number is 1-800-282-0515 and their web site is speakoutohio.gov
(they will let you file a complaint over the phone if you have several numbers to report, otherwise you must file a report for every number they use to call you on the web)
You need to make a list of all the numbers they call you from and a list of all the numbers you own that they called. You will be assigned a case number. After 10 days you will be able to call back to add to your list if you receive more calls.

– the FCC does not file charges with any company that is a legit. comapny. So, if you know it is a legit. company call 1-888-225-5322.

-the FCC said most of these calls are not legit. and to report them with the FTC who works with the justice department. That number is 1-877-385-4357. (I did call them and the lady on the phone was hard to understand. She would only let me report 2 numbers and gave me a file number). I called back and talked with Craig who took all my numbers and said to call back with any more I have. Their web site is http://www.ftc.gov
The FTC said will will shut down these numbers only after they have received enough complaints. It will be a class action suit and not an individual case.

-Telephone service providers are helpless to you in this matter

The following is a list of numbers I have been able to call and ask to be removed from their list.
Auto Warranty 925-771-2501
Extended Services 954-423-3700
Warranty Services 781-569-1000
Express Consolidated (over 90 companies use this number and the name is different when you call) 678-486-5530

I found these numbers from sites like this one. If any one knows more numbers please reply and I will try to add it to this list. My goal is to have a list which can be printed and used as a resource. Also, if you know how to get the real numbers we can add that to this source. Please check the number first. I found one number that was a personal cell phone number some one posted as a mean joke.

I get these calls at work and at home. So since they won’t stop I mess with them. I wait for the agent to pick up and they ask what year my car is. I tell them 2009 and they say why would you need an extended warranty and I say exactly. Or that my car is a 56 DeSoto, that’s get a laugh and a habg up. Last time they called my home my wife hit 1 to speak to a rep and when they came on the line I blew a horn into the phone. I have not received a call since.

“your trusty air horn can actuly get you a trusty assult charge to…seriusly don’t do that, you can cause permanet hearing damage ( take this as a fact from a former telemarketer) and the company can file legal charges aginst you. This actuly happend at a call center i worked at were we sold insurance. if they becoume rude hang up, ask to speak with a manager ect ect you have many recorses avalable to you. Injuring them is not the way to go, so they annoyed you do you really need to do physical injury to them?” – jon custer, from huntington wv (old comment reposted here for relevance).

Ed, I do care about making people deaf. I’m pretty sure it is illegal, whatever they do to you. Even if they were convicted of some horrible crime, we as civilized, moral people do not torture people (including deafening them). And annoying you is not even a horrible crime.

What’s more, in your comment, you lumped all telemarketers together with one or two derrogatory terms. In a free economy, people have the right to make a living, to advertise their products and services or employ others to do so. Especially in this tighter economy, people are desperate to find work wherever they can. I’m not saying that everything these people do is legal or legit or even that I like them calling to hassle me, but that some other telemarketers (for real companies, for example) may not be trying to scam you, but to honestly connect people with products or services they can use. Rather than labeling all of them, why don’t you label yourself: “I can’t stand telemarketers”?

I have not had any more calls so far. I did get an e-mail from the Attorney General’s office stating all the numbers I was called from were fake numbers so they can do nothing. I also got a letter from the FTC thanking for making the report along with a helpful pamphlet about tellematketing scams.

Yeesterday I spend about an hour returning some of the “fake numbers” (I added a 1 infront of the caller id) and the recording asked me if I was calling to be removed from their list. The funny thing was ,it was the exact same recording no matter what numberI called!

I too have received these phone calls. The only thing is my phone doesn’t register these calls as I have no caller ID. In addition on my cell phone it comes up unavailable. So at this point I have already done the remove number from call list option and so then I have tried several times to talk to a rep. But everytime I do they hang up on me with out saying a word. I hear them pick up the phone and then the next sound I hear is the phone hanging up. HELP!!!

AG FILES COMPLAINTS AGAINST CAR WARRANTY CALLERS
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
LITTLE ROCK- Today, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced that his office has filed lawsuits in federal court against three companies that are believed to be placing illegal telemarketing calls about car warranties to Arkansas consumers.

All across the country, consumers have been inundated with phone calls on their home phones, work phone, and even their cell phones from companies attempting to sell an auto warranty. The calls are becoming increasingly frequent; the product offered costs more than it should and is more often than not unnecessary. Most importantly, the calls themselves are illegal.

In order to bring a halt to these prohibited activities, the Attorney General has filed suit against three companies: Auto Warranty Solutions, Vehicle Services, Inc. and Dealer Warranty Services. The complaints detail multiple violations of both federal and state telemarketing laws: making calls to Arkansans listed in the Do Not Call database; “robocalling,” or using prerecorded messages for commercial purposes; and caller ID “spoofing,” displaying false or misleading telephone numbers on consumers’ caller ID systems.

“I believe the only way to put an end to the calls is to take swift legal action,” McDaniel said. “We believe that our case is strong, and we fully anticipate a successful resolution to these lawsuits and any more we may file in the future on behalf of Arkansas’s consumers. This case has national implications, and that I am proud of the leadership in my consumer division. A year ago, this team and I promised to vanquish pay day lenders. Today, the efforts of this team are focused on stopping these warranty calls.”

The best thing to do with these types of scams is never reveal any of your personal information. If someone is calling to offer you a legit auto warranty, they will not pressure you to purchase it by phone – they will be able to mail you information and give you contact number to call them back after you review the offer you have received. If they are unwilling to give you details, then they are definitely a scam.

There are some SERIOUSLY awesome approaches here to getting the auto warranty people to stop calling – I have worked with a few of the warranty companies to get them to practice better marketing – I run a sort of watch dog group over here Car Warranty Reviews and I have flamed a few of the perps. Great article!

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hi i work for one of these scam company’s because i have no job and desperately need to pay rent. Sometimes i call the same person 2X in the same day after do not calling them so i have no idea why it doesn’t work but it is most defiantly a scam